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National Museums of Scotland and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK

The vogue for ear plugs originated in Egypt. Two Egyptian blue faience plugs from the New Kingdom period, dating to about 1550–1070 B.C.E. have designs similar to that of the faience example from Ekron. As Dothan argues in the accompanying article, the Ekron ear plugs are compelling evidence of the influence exerted by Egyptian culture on the Philistines toward the end of Iron Age I (1200–1000 B.C.E.).